aravir studios

New Blog

2007-12-19T13:31:00.000-05:00

My blog has moved to: GLASS AND PLASTIC. That's where I'll be from now on. Thank You, Jess

The Lawrence Family

2007-11-25T16:05:00.000-05:00

While in California we spent the morning playing with the Lawrence boys, and then a couple of days later while at church we pulled Anna & Joey aside for a little shmoopy-shmoopy session. We took pictures at the bus stop and the telephone company's truck yard.

I like the Lawrence Family

According to the laws of physics this should be impossible...

The Shultz Family

2007-11-13T14:20:00.000-05:00

We didn't have as much time with the Shultz family as we would have liked, but not bad for a 20 minute session, eh?

The Birtell Family

2007-11-13T10:40:00.000-05:00

While in California Matthew and I hung out with my good friends the Birtells and got to meet their new little punk Jonas.

So much love...

2007-11-06T20:38:00.001-05:00

I learned how to make a slideshow and post video on Youtube today...

The Dodge Family

2007-10-27T13:12:00.000-05:00

Before leaving for California I spent a couple of hours playing with the Dodge family.

Matt & Ashley Hollinger

2007-10-24T15:25:00.000-05:00

Matt & Ashley were married this last weekend.
Coffee beans, brass knuckles, Bright Eyes, cowboy boots, Vans, and Dave Quiggle tattoos.

Once again, many of the best photos were taken by Matthew. I think his photos more than make up for him being responsible for Dust in the Wind being played for the money dance.

photo by Matthew

Matt as Ashley walked down the aisle

photo by Matthew

photo by Matthew

photo by Matthew

One Year

2007-10-06T10:12:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is our one year anniversary. Every couple has an "our song". A song that makes you all shmoopie-eyed and gives you the warm fuzzies. If we had had music and/or a first dance at our wedding it would have been a toss up between these two. And in our usual awesome ways these videos feature pee-wee herman, killing people, soapbox derbies, blowing yourself up, and amazing hair. Someday we'll buckle down and take life more seriously, our at least our relationship. But for now we've come to the realization that our marriage just IS. It's not very sentimental, or epic, or dramatic. It just IS. We are married. We wake up each morning, do our jobs, enjoy quiet evenings together, go to sleep, and start it all over again the next morning. We love each other, we get along with each other, and we realize how much better off we are with each other. And that sums up our first year...

you've had too much to think now you need a wife

I will annoy you with every waking breath

Josh & Katie

2007-10-05T08:49:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to 2nd shoot for Rupert Whiteley in Newport, RI. As usual I posted way too many photos...

Congratulations Josh & Katie.

The best man

the groom

The toasts

Day Two

2007-09-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

So begins day two without a tv. It started as an effort to cut back on unnecessary expenses, but after canceling our basic cable package we realized we were only paying about 36¢ a day for tv. Now it's become a social experiment. Are our lives going to be better because of one less distraction? It's one thing to watch a show here and there, the problem for me was getting slowed down and distracted by nonsense. I'd feel obligated to fill the silent house with something, anything, because it would feel pathetic should anyone stop by and see me in a quiet house alone. "You're sitting in the quiet? You poor thing, we need to get you out of the house and into some noise". Why do I feel this way? I thrive on solitude. An evening with good music and a good book sounds so inviting and fulfilling.

I spent most of my life without a tv, mostly due to the fact that we lived in the "boonies" and the cable lines didn't make it that far out. The only other option was a giant satellite dish that took 10 minutes to change the channel because it had to reposition itself with each channel. So we ended up with a antennae on top of the house that my dad had to crawl out on the roof to fix every time the wind blew. Even then the channels were fuzzy and all we could really watch was Little House on the Prairie and Emergency. My aunt & uncle taped hours of Disney Channel and Nick at Nite so we had our fill of Father Knows Best and Dumbo's Circus. The only thing I feel like I missed out on are a few major news stories from the 90s. Rwanda? Mogadishu? Not too sure what happened there. I remember going to my aunt's house to watch the LA riots, and somehow I watched the OJ Simpson trial in it's entirety. I didn't really suffer any real trauma from not having all that tv had to offer. So I had to catch up on Friends and Seinfeld via TBS. It hasn't killed me.

Most everything I care to watch is available online anyways. Lost still has a few months before it's back on, we have to see the last season of Scrubs, and I'm a little bummed that The Office is only going to be available to download for PC users initially, but I'll survive. I've also been known to watch a little Laguna Beach from time to time. I love the town of Laguna Beach and I miss the California coastline.

*warning* She says a bad, bad word in the song. About the time they start throwing dirt on the tv (1:28) cover your ears and scream.

Website Redesign

2007-09-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning feeling creative, so I did a quick redesign of my website. It's not done yet, but it's a start. Now I need to go get out of my pjs and hit the grocery store.

Aravir Studios

Woodstock Fair

2007-09-04T10:54:00.000-05:00

Saturday nite we went to the Woodstock Fair to eat bad food and take a few pictures...

We discovered that sheep DON'T say "baa", they say "Matt".

The livestock room was kinda loud

I love my Canon 30D. There is no way my old camera could have pulled off the low-light conditions so beautifully.
I don't have pictures of the food, but corn dogs, funnel cake, and deep fried Oreos made for one pukey feeling Tadpole.

California

2007-07-27T13:28:00.000-05:00

Here's the deal:

I will be in SoCal for the weekend of October 20th to shoot Ashley & Matt's wedding. We're still trying to figure out details like how long to stay and whether or not Matthew's coming out too. If I were to stay a few more days is there any interest out there in family/kid/couple photo sessions? This will help me finalize my plans. Thank you.

Mike & Beth

2007-07-09T19:26:00.000-05:00

Jon & Heidi Gallery

2007-06-28T12:49:00.000-05:00

Jon & Heidi's gallery is now posted
gallery page

Jon & Heidi pt 2

2007-06-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

Apparently I'm in a b&w mood today.

Where would I be without Matthew? For starters this wedding would be missing some of the best photos.

photo by Matthew

photo by Matthew

photo by Matthew

photo by Matthew

photo by Matthew

Mr & Mrs Dowoit

2007-06-16T21:21:00.000-05:00

My husband, who is looking out for me & my mental health, has forbidden me from editing any photos from today other than this one:

More to come in the next couple of days...

Jon & Heidi pt 1

2007-06-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

I'd like to think that Matthew and I are responsible for Jon & Heidi. If I'm not mistaken, Matthew was the one to encourage Jon to talk to Heidi and they got engaged a few weeks after our wedding. I'm sure we were the inspiration.

I had a hard enough time editing the rehearsal photos, I'm sure the after wedding post will be huge. Two of these photos were taken by Matthew. Can you tell which ones?

So much for my peace and quiet

2007-05-25T08:38:00.000-05:00

Since it's finally warmed up I've been spending some time each morning sitting on the front step to our house soaking up the sunlight and fresh air. This morning however there's a tractor sitting across the street and a couple of people measuring things and talking about where gas lines are and such. Sigh... I think this means it's gonna get noisy around here pretty soon.

The Big Apple

2007-05-21T15:31:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the photos from my day in NYC a couple of weeks ago. I shot about about 85% of the day intentionally without the viewfinder.

my cousin Katie...

Katie & my aunt Pat

my sister...

ground zero

taken in the window of the train while underground

Near Death Experience

2007-05-17T08:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I bought a real, working camera! No more manual focus! No more removing dust from every picture in post! No more freezing up at the most inopportune moments! No more "Card Error, Reformat?" messages! That's right, I'm officially open for business now. I'll be posting lots of pictures as soon as I take them.

On my way home from picking up the camera in Providence I noticed this huge wall of black hovering over the Rhode Island - Connecticut line. The base was swirling clouds and lightning flashed every few seconds. As I was watching in amazement and trying to decide whether or not there are tornados in this part of the world, a car passed me with it's lights flashing rapidly. "That's odd", I thought and kept driving. As I crossed over into CT it went black, debris was flying in the air and all of a sudden I couldn't see anything because my car was hit as if I was driving through a waterfall. I freaked out and pulled off the road. Then I freaked out because I was afraid of a tree falling on me. So I got back on the road very slowly and immediately freaked out again and got off the road which caused me to freak out about the whole tree crashing into my car possibility. After repeating this procedure a few times I came upon a line of cars stopped because of a tree blocking the road. At this point I called Matthew on the verge of tears because I only know of one way home, and there was a tree in my way and I'm from Southern California and if it starts to sprinkle the news goes to full time "storm watch". I finally found a church with a nice open parking lot and waited the worst of the storm out before following the new directions Matthew gave me. There were a few more trees down on the rest of the drive, but the worst was over.

In California you have fire season and rainy season. Rainy season is a few weeks of a constant rainfall. It can have it's moments, but NOTHING like this. So in conclusion, can anyone tell me what the "smart" way to handle storms like this?

Also, I can't get Photoshop CS to open the raw files for the Canon. I downloaded the plugin and followed all the instructions but it's not working. I know I had this problem in the past with the Minolta, but I can't remember how I fixed it. Does anyone have any suggestions?

2007-05-15T20:32:00.000-05:00

One more section of my temporary site is up and functioning.
KIDS!!!
http://www.aravirstudios.com/kids.html

Here's one that didn't make the cut. What parent doesn't want to see their kid as an American Mussolini?

And there was much rejoicing

2007-05-15T16:35:00.000-05:00

Somewhere in the US Postal System an envelope containing the layout for Naomi Terranella's cd is FINALLY making it's way to California. I had planned on having it wrapped up before moving to New England and getting married. That was the end of September. Delays of various sorts (music, scheduling, computer issues, etc) put it off until today. I would feel guilty about mopping the floors because it wasn't done. I would skip out on going places because it wasn't done. I haven't finished updating my website because it wasn't done. But those days are over now. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I am free!

This woman was waliking around NYC wearing a kissing booth. I was being sneaky and shot this from my hip so I couldn't get close enough to find out why. Any guesses?

5/10/07

2007-05-10T12:01:00.000-05:00

Norwich State Hospital, Newport RI, Kelsie, & Katie

more to come...

2007-05-10T09:43:00.000-05:00

All technology has turned against me today. My phone is dying and I can't find the charger. My ipod keeps freezing and now it's got a little disk icon with a magnifying glass flashing. I think it's a bad sign. I was just editing some new photos when, for no reason whatsoever, and with no warning, my computer turned off. Oh yeah, I still haven't resolved my camera issues. It froze up on me again while I was in NYC this past weekend. I'd go make myself an english muffin, but I'm afraid of the toaster.

NYC?!? That's right, I'll be posting some new photos as soon I resolve the computer issues.

2007-04-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

I picked Matthew up from work yesterday and this is what was waiting for me.

And yes, we went out to eat with him looking like this.

Spring has sprung (and other cornyness)

2007-04-26T16:12:00.000-05:00

If you know me you know that I have an addiction to Dr Pepper. But I recently discovered the joy that is Izze.

I haven't had caffeine in two days and my head won't let me forget it. The last time I tried to give up Dr Pepper I made until 5pm. I have no intention of giving the sauce up for good, but at least I'm being (somewhat) healthy. And the carbonation in the Izze burns like crazy which is the thing that I love about soda the most.

2007-04-25T09:45:00.000-05:00

2007-04-19T16:18:00.000-05:00

Here's some more old photos for you viewing enjoyment...

2007-04-13T11:10:00.000-05:00

Photo a day, shmoto a day. Yeah, it's not gonna happen.

2007-04-09T12:45:00.000-05:00

The timing of things is funny. Recently I've been having camera problems. My camera doesn't recognize my better lens, so I'm using a lens off my parent's old camera. It hasn't had a lens cap on it for years and is pretty banged up. Minolta, my camera brand went out of business recently so it's pointless for me to invest any more money into this set-up. I'm in the market for a new camera, probably a Canon, which I'm hoping to get in the next couple of month, finances allowing. I've felt like I've been caught in a cycle of not being able to take on photography jobs because my camera's dying, but not being able to get a better setup because I'm not shooting anything to make money. And having a good camera will change everything. Every photo will turn out perfect, and I will all of a sudden develop amazing new artistic abilities and perspective. All because of an expensive piece of machinery.

We rent movies through Netflix, which allows you to set up a queue of what you want to see. Usually I reorganize the list to whatever we want to see that week, but this last time I forgot to check and it sent me Born into Brotherls. I didn't realize that Born into Brothels was about photography. All I really knew is that it was a documentary. Turns out it's about a photographer who gave the children in Calcutta's red light district cameras and photography lessons and documents the changes in their lives as a result. The photos are amazing. You could spend tens of thousands of dollars on equiptment and waste years of your life in school learning the correct process of taking a photo and still not be able to capture anywhere near the life and emotion of their photos. All on simple, focus free, point & shoot 35mm cameras that probably cost $10 each.

Sooo... It appears that God wanted me to watch this movie today and once again be reminded of what I already know. The camera doesn't matter. The technical technique doesn't matter. I personally don't take pictures because I know how to. I take pictures because I don't know how to and I love the results that I stumble on. It seems the more adverse the circumstances the happier I am with my results. I think that most of the time it's God nudging me to hit the shutter and He takes care of rearranging the lighting and composition to work in that instant.

ps. Jon & Hiedi, don't worry, I'm still gonna get that new camera and try my hardest to make your pictures great. I won't be shooting your wedding with my camera phone out of some new artistic principle.

Some of my favorites that I've stumbled on over the years

.

Taken with a simple point & shoot digital camera with only available lighting. I'm pretty sure I didn't even use the viewfinder.

I didn't know I took this until I had it on my computer. Something about it sums up the whole of traveling in a foreign country to me.

Last frame on the film, out the window of the taxi as I was leaving NYC

4/8

2007-04-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

Someone famous' property

4/7

2007-04-08T20:19:00.000-05:00

4/6

2007-04-07T11:21:00.000-05:00

2007-04-05T22:28:00.000-05:00

Pancakes & Brownies with Ice Cream at Pizza Huts in Germany

april 4

2007-04-04T12:49:00.000-05:00

I do miss California at times

Belly

2007-04-03T13:02:00.000-05:00

Like it or not the Lawrence family will be making quite a few appearances here. They've always been willing models. Gabriel is now out of Anna's belly, though I've yet to see the proof myself.

Mmmm...

2007-04-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

Wedding Cake. Plain and Simple

He's not drunk

2007-04-01T19:25:00.000-05:00

Joey & Family are in the process of moving to Seattle. They won't be there when I visit SoCal. It's a weird thought.

Photo a day?

2007-03-31T08:03:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking I might try and post a photo a day and maybe give a little background on each (if there's a background to be had). Old photos, new photos, whatever I happen to find that day. I know that usually the idea is to take a photo a day, but I'm too lazy for that right now.

Santa Monica Blvd or Hollywood Blvd or Sunset Blvd or something like that...

Beginning

2007-03-30T07:47:00.000-05:00

I've survived my first new england winter, and even though I know it was considered mild, I've never been so cold for so long in my life. Unfortunately I haven't taken too many pictures since moving here. My camera has been acting up, and it's been too cold to move. I understand why animals hibernate.

I'll be using this blog to keep everyone updated on married life on the East Coast as well as show off new and current photos.